The Russian space agency said on Tuesday February 21 that the return of an astronaut and two cosmonauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) due to a leak was not expected until September, a year after their flight. in the space.
In December, the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, docked to the ISS and which was to bring back to Earth the American Frank Rubio and the Russians Sergei Prokopiev and Dmitri Peteline, suffered a spectacular leak, due according to Moscow to the impact of a micrometeorite.
Sending a Soyuz MS-23
The Russian agency has decided to send to their rescue another spacecraft, the Soyuz MS-23, which is due to leave on February 24 from the Baikonur cosmodrome.
Before this escape, the three men were to reach Earth on March 28.
“
Now it is scheduled to take place aboard Soyuz MS-23 in September 2023
,” Roscosmos said in a statement on Tuesday.
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The Russian agency assured that this extended duration in space, while missions usually last only six months, did not present a danger to the health of the crew, who "perceives
this extension positively
".
Roscomos cites the example of cosmonaut Piotr Doubrov and astronaut Mark Vande Hei, whose mission in space had been extended, in 2021, from six months to a year.
"Holes" outside the vessel
A similar leak affected in mid-February another Russian spacecraft, the Progress MS-21 cargo ship, docked with the ISS since October and which undocked on February 18.
Roscosmos said Tuesday that an "
external impact
" caused the leak.
Based on photographs and video of the damaged cargo ship, Roscosmos noted the presence of "
holes
" on the outer surface of the vessel, including on a "
radiator
" and solar panels.
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The Russian agency excludes a manufacturing defect.
According to Roscosmos, a series of experiments to "
imitate the damage
" is planned in order to understand the origin and "to
ward off this kind of threat
".
The ISS is one of the few fields of cooperation still underway between Moscow and Washington since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, launched a year ago, and the international sanctions that followed.
